This invention relates to a separate lubricating system for an engine and more particularly to an arrangement for providing a safety warning in the event of failure of an engine lubricating system to provide sufficient lubricant to the engine.
As is well known, a variety of engines are provided with lubricating systems for providing lubricant to various of their moving components. In connection with two-cycle internal combustion engines, it has been a general practice to mix lubricant with the fuel and the engine is thus lubricated. However, such arrangements may not be fully satisfactory under all conditions.
It has, therefore, been proposed to provide two-cycle engines with separate lubricating systems wherein a separate lubricant reservoir is provided and lubricant is delivered to the engine for its lubrication by a lubricant system that delivers lubricant from the reservoir to the engine. In a typical application, a lubricant pump is employed for this purpose.
This type of arrangement is very popular in conjunction with outboard motors wherein a large lubricant reservoir may be positioned in the hull of a watercraft and a smaller lubricant delivery tank contained within the power head of the powering outboard motor. Lubricant is transferred from the lubricant reservoir to the lubricant delivery tank and then transferred from this delivery tank to the engine for its lubrication.
In connection with such systems, it is, of course, desirable that the engine be protected from circumstances under which inadequate lubricant is supplied to the engine. Therefore, a wide variety of protective devices have been incorporated which sense both the level of lubricant in the storage tank and in the supply tank. Of course, these arrangements do not sense whether or not lubricant is actually being delivered to the engine. Various backup or additional safety systems have been employed that provide an indication of warning in the event of such malfunctions as failure of the oil pump drive shaft to be rotated, clogging of the oil filter or the like. However, none of these systems are actually responsive to nor sense the actual flow of lubricant to the engine and, hence, they cannot anticipate all types of failures, even those which may only remotely occur.
It is, therefore, a principal object of this invention to provide an improved warning arrangement for a separately lubricated internal combustion engine.
It is a further object of this invention to provide an improved engine protection system for protecting the engine in the event that the flow of lubricant to it is less than the required quantity.